Nobody publishes a clean, citable breakdown of VPN pricing across the market. Review sites list individual picks. VPN companies show their own numbers. What’s missing is a neutral dataset: what does a VPN actually cost on average, how much do long-term plans really save, and where does the market cluster?
We pulled pricing data from 49 VPN services tracked in our comparison database to answer those questions. This is the data. Use it, cite it, update it next year.
The headline numbers
Across the 49 VPNs in our dataset (44 of them list a standalone monthly plan):
| Plan type | Average monthly cost | Median |
|---|---|---|
| Month-to-month | $10.63 | $9.99 |
| Annual plan (per month) | $5.16 | $4.99 |
| 2-year plan (per month) | $3.91 | $3.48 |
The month-to-month average has barely moved since 2022, when Statista pegged the global average at $10.70/month. The market has standardized around the $9.99 price point: 18 of 44 VPNs with a monthly plan charge between $8 and $10 for a rolling subscription, and $9.99 specifically appears ten times in our dataset. It’s an anchoring price, not a coincidence.
Annual plans are a different story. The 2022 Statista figure for yearly subscriptions was $2.90/month equivalent. Our 2026 data shows $5.16. Some of that gap is sampling differences, but the direction is real: long-term plan prices have drifted up as introductory discounts tighten.
How much do longer plans actually save?
On average, switching from a monthly to an annual subscription cuts your effective monthly cost by 51%. Committing to two years saves 63% versus month-to-month.
Those are averages. The actual spread is wide:
Biggest annual plan discounts (vs monthly price):
| VPN | Monthly price | Annual equiv/mo | Savings |
|---|---|---|---|
| IPVanish | $12.99 | $3.33 | 74% |
| LimeVPN | $8.99 | $2.50 | 72% |
| Private Internet Access | $11.95 | $3.33 | 72% |
| Ivacy | $12.95 | $3.67 | 72% |
| CyberGhost | $12.99 | $3.99 | 69% |
At the other end: Goose VPN’s annual plan works out to slightly more per month than paying monthly, and Mullvad charges the exact same $5.50 whether you commit for a month or a year. Always check the math instead of assuming a longer plan is automatically cheaper.
Best 2-year prices (monthly equivalent):
- VPNSecure: $1.88/mo
- IPVanish: $2.19/mo
- Trust.Zone: $2.33/mo
- PureVPN: $2.42/mo
- Ivacy: $2.46/mo
IPVanish and Ivacy show up on both the best-annual-discount list and the best-2-year list, which makes them the two providers with the most consistent long-term-plan value in this dataset.
Where prices cluster: the four tiers
We split the 44 VPNs with a standalone monthly plan by price:
Under $5/month (1 VPN): Goose VPN ($4.99)
A thin tier, and it stays thin every year we run this. Budget-priced monthly plans are rare because most VPNs use high monthly prices to nudge users toward longer commitments.
$5-$8/month (6 VPNs): AzireVPN ($5), FastestVPN ($5), Mullvad ($5.50), CryptoStorm ($6), iVPN ($6), Bitdefender VPN ($6.99)
This is the privacy-tools cluster. Mullvad, AzireVPN, and iVPN are all independently operated, privacy-focused services that don’t use introductory pricing or multi-year plans as a marketing tool. What you see is what you pay.
$8-$10/month (18 VPNs): The largest tier. ProtonVPN ($9.99), Windscribe ($9), TunnelBear ($9.99), Hide.me ($9.95), and many others. This is where most mid-market VPNs land.
Over $10/month (19 VPNs): 43% of the VPNs with a monthly plan. Includes NordVPN ($12.99), ExpressVPN ($12.99), Surfshark ($15.45), CyberGhost ($12.99), and the outlier: Astrill VPN at $30/month. Astrill targets specific use cases (China bypass, router protocols) and prices accordingly.
The distribution tells you something: VPN companies deliberately set high monthly prices, then offer steep discounts on annual plans, because that’s what converts browsers into locked-in subscribers. The $12.99 monthly price for NordVPN is not meant to be paid regularly.
The renewal gap
Here’s what most pricing comparisons skip.
Introductory pricing and renewal pricing are two different numbers. When you sign up for a 2-year plan at a promotional rate, that plan eventually ends. The renewal is typically billed at the standard 1-year rate, which for NordVPN currently works out to $5.74/month (see the table above). In some documented cases, NordVPN’s 2-year Basic plan has renewed at $219.48/year, which is $18.29/month. That is a 529% increase from the advertised introductory rate.
NordVPN is the most cited example, but the pattern is industry-wide. Across providers, renewal prices run between 40% and 500% above the initial subscription price. The VPNs that don’t do this are typically the ones charging flat rates to begin with: Mullvad at $5.50/month, AzireVPN at $5, iVPN at $6. No promotions, no renewal surprises.
The real cost of a VPN over three years looks very different from the headline price. A $2/month deal on a 2-year plan that renews at $8/month costs more per month in year three than Mullvad does over all three years.
Moneyback guarantees: what the data shows
| Guarantee length | Number of VPNs |
|---|---|
| No guarantee | 5 |
| 7 days or less | 8 |
| 30 days | 27 |
| 30+ days | 4 |
30-day guarantees are the industry standard. NordVPN and VirtualShield VPN offer 60 days. CyberGhost and Hotspot Shield offer 45. ExpressVPN offers 30. The services with no guarantee at all (AirVPN, Astrill VPN, Betternet, F-Secure, TorGuard) or a very short window (BeetVPN and Goose VPN at 7 days) are worth noting: if something goes wrong in week two, you have no recourse.
Free trials remain uncommon. Only 24 of 49 VPNs offer any kind of trial. Most of those are limited, either by feature set (AdGuard VPN, Windscribe) or by duration (Bitdefender’s 30-day trial is genuinely free; most others are 1-7 days). If you want to test a premium VPN before paying, the moneyback guarantee is your real trial.
Year-over-year context
Some benchmarks for comparison:
- 2022 (Statista): global average monthly subscription $10.70/mo, yearly $2.90/mo equiv
- 2026 (our data, 49 VPNs): monthly $10.63/mo, annual $5.16/mo equiv, 2-year $3.91/mo equiv
Monthly prices are flat or slightly up. Annual plan prices have increased, partly because providers pulled back on the aggressive $2-3/month 2-year deals that were common in 2020-2022. Two-year plans are now less common in our dataset as well: only 28 of 49 VPNs offer one.
The market has also consolidated somewhat at the top. NordVPN, Surfshark, and ExpressVPN collectively hold a large share of paid VPN subscriptions, and all three price monthly plans above $12.99. The budget competition is real below that, but the mainstream options have not gotten cheaper.
Reading this data
A few caveats before you cite this:
All prices are in USD and reflect publicly listed prices as of June 2026. Promotional rates and current deals are not included: we used standard listed prices. Some VPNs use variable pricing by region; this dataset reflects the primary market price.
Prices for complex tiers (e.g., Norton Secure VPN with different device tiers, VirtualShield with basic/ultimate) use the lowest listed price for the primary plan. Where annual prices appeared to be the raw annual total rather than a monthly equivalent, we divided by 12.
This data will be updated annually. If you want to check the underlying numbers, our full comparison table is at /compare.
Quick reference: major VPNs at a glance
| VPN | Monthly | 1yr/mo | 2yr/mo | Moneyback |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| NordVPN | $12.99 | $5.74 | $3.48 | 60 days |
| Surfshark | $15.45 | $4.98 | N/A | 30 days |
| ExpressVPN | $12.99 | $8.33 | N/A | 30 days |
| ProtonVPN | $9.99 | $3.99 | $2.99 | 30 days |
| CyberGhost | $12.99 | $3.99 | $3.49 | 45 days |
| Mullvad | $5.50 | $5.50 | N/A | 30 days |
| Private Internet Access | $11.95 | $3.33 | $3.29 | 30 days |
| IPVanish | $12.99 | $3.33 | $2.19 | 30 days |
| Windscribe | $9.00 | $5.75 | N/A | 3 days |
| TunnelBear | $9.99 | $3.33 | $3.33 | varies |
ExpressVPN’s annual plan at $8.33/month equivalent is notably higher than comparable premium options. NordVPN on a 1-year plan costs 31% less per month. That gap is hard to justify unless you have a specific reason to prefer ExpressVPN.
Our verdict
The $9.99/month price point is a psychological anchor, not a market rate. If you’re paying month-to-month for a VPN, you’re almost certainly overpaying. Annual plans cut the cost by about half. Two-year plans are cheaper still, but read the renewal terms first: a $3/month deal that jumps to $15 on renewal is a bad deal once you do the math over three years. Mullvad remains the clearest example of a major provider that charges the same price regardless of plan length, with AzireVPN and iVPN close behind.
Want to compare all VPNs side by side? Check our full VPN comparison table with scores across 18 criteria.
For a full breakdown of which VPNs score highest on security, privacy, and value together, see our complete VPN comparison. If budget is the priority, our best cheap VPN guide covers the best options under $3/month.